


AKA There's No Way

by prec7ous



Category: Jessica Jones (TV)
Genre: Clueless Jessica, F/F, Pre-Killgrave, Smooth Trish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-05
Updated: 2017-04-17
Packaged: 2018-07-12 01:18:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7078576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prec7ous/pseuds/prec7ous
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>*Jessica: I have to suck it up; Trish is straight.<br/>Trish: I wish we were dating, but she's clearly not into me.*</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Tucking in an Angel

**Author's Note:**

> I know I'm months and months late to the Jessica Jones (or Trishica) party but I just cannot help myself.

"Your friend is at my club. I took her keys but she won't accept a cab. Could you come get her? She keeps talking about wanting to fly from rooftop to rooftop or something weird like that."

Jessica stares dumbfounded at her phone after she got the details of the place and they hung up. "What the fuck?" she mutters to herself.

It's nearly 3AM and she had wanted to push the call away but instead accidentally pressed on 'accept' in her sleepy state. Who in their right mind calls in the middle of the night? She's not a machine that fixes everyone's problems 24/7. She needs her rest.

But this isn't just anyone so she pushes the sleep from her mind and puts on her jeans and leather jacket. Still slightly intoxicated, it takes her a minute to find her left boot before she remembers she threw it across her apartment in annoyance before going to bed. Annoyance to nothing in particular. Or well, everything actually - minus a thing or two. Or just one.

She can't find her keys anywhere. Not that it matters, since the window had been shattered and is lying in little pieces on the floor again. She sighs, grabs a bottle of scotch with just a few sips left, and closes her front door behind her. Because, well, that's one of the civil traits she still possesses.

Before she knows it, the bottle in her hand is empty. Just as she's about to throw it in a trashcan she spots, someone runs past her and swipes it from her hand. If it was full she would've run after him and threw it against his head or something. _What an idiot._ This time, it's definitely his loss. She briefly wonders how pathetic you must be to drink from someone you know nothing about. What if she had some kind of disease? What if it wasn't even scotch to begin with?

She shrugs and decides she doesn't give a flying fuck and resumes her walk to Indigo; some fancy bar annex club Jessica would never willingly set foot in. She prefers to be nameless and the lights to be as dim as possible. Somewhere where she can just be someone that wants a drink and take care of the problem herself when someone messes with her. She doesn't need a bouncer to take away her chance to get a free workout. Where would be the fun in that?

 _Well, this is going to suck._ There's a freaking line to get into the place. She's not even dressed accordingly. Probably. She walks up to the bouncer and tries to get his attention. Some girl halfway the line yells something to Jessica. She pays her no mind. It isn't until half the line is screaming things like 'get in line, bitch' and even things like 'you don't have to wait if you come back to my place' followed by obnoxious hollering and whistling from various men that the bouncer looks up at her. She tells him that she's only here to pick someone up.

He grabs his walkie-talkie and she assumes he's asking one of the bartenders for confirmation. He has an earpiece in so she can't exactly hear the conversation and after what seems like a minute of silence worth other people in the line getting agitated by the holdup, he nods his head for her to go in.

It's even more terrible than she thought it would be. The dance floor is packed with people. They're not even dancing, really. They are shamelessly dry humping and groping one another. It's like one big orgy. She doesn't understand what the blonde is doing here in the first place. It doesn't really look like her scene, unless a date brought her here. She sighs at the realization and tries to worm her way through the crowd toward the opposite side of the building. There are hands all over her and she has to consciously remind herself that she is her to pick up her friend - her platonic friend and nothing more - and definitely not to cause trouble and get kicked out before even reaching her.

When a guy gropes her ass hard, she cannot contain herself. She doesn't even bother to turn around when she grabs the hand touching her. Her grip is around the place where the second knuckles are located. She smirks. _This is just too easy._ She cups the four fingers between her hand and squeezes hard for a second. Maybe two, just for good measure, lets go and resumes her walk. She hears someone yell out in pain but doesn't look back. Everyone is way too preoccupied to have seen that she effectively crushed four fingers off a stranger's hand. Hell, the guy probably didn't even see her face to begin with. All is well.

She knows she's close even before she spots the blonde. There's a guy sitting in the seat next to her. His whole body is angled toward her while hers is angled toward the bar. Her eyes are fixed on the empty glass before her. The guy signals for another round and the blonde takes it straight from the bartender. The guy shifts closer to her as he sips from his own drink. He puts his mouth next to her ear and says something that Jessica can't hear from the distance she still has to pass. These damn people keep blocking her way. She sees the guy put his hand on the blonde's thigh who nonchalantly shrugs it off, but he just puts it right back. The blonde looks straight at him now and says something Jessica also cannot hear. Jessica sees him frown for a few moments before smirking devilishly.

 _OK, this has to stop._ Jessica is feeling all kinds of protective and defensive. It's clear that Trish isn't into the guy. He should just take a hint and leave. She lightly - or she thinks it is - shoves some people out of her way and finally reaches the bar. Just as she's about to get Trish' attention, the guy moves over and tries to kiss her. Trish shoves him, but he doesn't let up.

Jessica is seething. She grabs the guy by the collar and throws him into the ground at her feet. She deliberately doesn't throw him across the building but reduces the amount of people that could potentially see this. The last thing she needs is attention brought upon her and the last thing Trish needs is to be on the front page of some kind of tabloid.

The guy is grunting in pain. His nose landed on the horizontal bar of his own barstool his feet were placed on just a few moments ago - which was nice because she didn't really aim for that. Jessica ignores him and her eyes briefly land on Trish' before she demands the attention of the bartender. She signals at the blonde and he nods, giving her the keys. Jessica then points to the guy next to her feet who is bleeding all over the floor and shrugs at the bartender who in turn speaks into his walkie-talkie. She doesn't wait around to see what happens and merely grabs Trish' hand and ushers her out of the club.

The blonde stumbles along and Jessica has to stay close to make sure she doesn't fall. Eventually, she puts her arm around the blonde's waist. The proximity is killing her. She feels lightheaded and on fire from the touch and the way Trish is clinging to her.

Jessica knows she's fucked, but she pushes away her thoughts and feelings in favor of getting the blonde home safe and sound.

They are a block away from the club when Trish suddenly stops dead in her tracks, also halting Jessica in her stride.

"Jess?" Trish slurs with a completely serious look on her face.

The private eye rolls her eyes in annoyance. _No, it's fucking Santa Clause._ _Jesus, would you have let just anyone take you home – or worse?_ Jessica knows the blonde wouldn't have. Probably. Trish turned down the guy and went with her instead. That must count for something; at least that's what she hopes. Jessica is frustrated. _You really have to take better care of yourself and not go out and be so Goddamn reckless and stubborn and – ugh._

"Yes, it's me, Trish."

She isn't prepared for that smile which takes over all of Trish' face that swiftly disappears into her own shoulder. Trish is hugging her tightly and Jessica is completely dumbfounded. She has no idea what the fuck just happened. She knows Trish gets a bit handsy when drunk, but this is very sudden. Nevertheless, she can't ignore the surge of affection coursing through her body. It makes her feel all kinds of things; the most prominent one being extremely uncomfortable. She knows Trish just means it in a friendly way - just to express her appreciation and excitement or whatever, but Jessica always catches herself hoping it could be more. But not this time, nope. Without even a second of indulgence, she gently pushes Trish off of her, internally curses herself for doing so, and tells her she's going to take her home.

It doesn't look like the blonde can walk any further and Jessica really does not want to carry her right now. She is not sure how much self-restraint she can practice at this moment. Luckily, a cab stops next to them. Jessica gestures to Trish to get in but the blonde just giggles at her like a high school girl.

Jessica rolls her eyes, mutters something under her breath and pushes her hand into the small of Trish' back to urge her to move. Jessica makes sure that Trish slides in first and the blonde immediately scoots over to make room for Jessica. Before Jessica could get a word in, Trish already rattled off Jessica's address in a surprisingly calm and collected manner. The blonde gives the private eye a look that says not to fight her on this, so Jessica doesn't. She's already plotting scenarios that will never happen and her mind is already set on her taking the couch in the office and giving her bed to Trish. Jessica doesn't understand why the blonde doesn't want to go home. She knows, for a fact, that Trish' bed is infinitely more comfortable than hers.

The driver stops in front of her building and Jessica pays the guy with the money she was going to spend on more booze. She nudges Trish to get out of the car but the blonde is out like a light. When she doesn't wake up from Jessica's calls and nudges to her body, the driver gets impatient because they're wasting time in which he could pick up another fare. Jessica sighs heavily and picks up the blonde from the back seat. She rearranges her in her arms and carries her inside. Somehow, Trish manages to inadvertently nuzzle her head in between Jessica's boobs.

When she closes the front door behind her, the blonde stirs a bit in her sleep, nudging further into Jessica. The private eye grumbles to herself. She thinks about how this stupid sleeping woman in her arms is the most beautiful person she ever laid eyes on. Fuck, even back at the club in her drunken stupor, Trish was the most stunning one. The most intelligent one. The kindest one. Even in her arms, or maybe especially in her arms, Trish is positively angelic or something, Jessica thinks.

She carefully places the blonde in her bed. Although one part of her really doesn't want to and another part wants nothing but – _just fuck, not like this_ – she starts to undress Trish. Jessica is glad that the blonde isn't wearing a dress. Taking a deep breath, Jessica takes off Trish' heels and goes for her shirt next. She needs to consciously remind herself to refrain from looking – _but fuck. Did Trish really had to wear that illegally sexy bra?_ She catches herself staring and suddenly feels so hot that she has to take off her own jacket before... Before taking of Trish' pants.

She clears her throat, trying to assess the situation. She could leave Trish like this but who the hell sleeps in their denim pants? It can't be comfortable. Having a hangover is bad enough; Jessica figures that she cannot add a non-comfortable night's sleep to that. Right? _It's what friends do. Friends make sure their friends are OK and as comfortable as possible. There's nothing weird about this. Right, OK._ After she's done giving herself a mental pep talk, she unbuttons Trish' pants and slides it down her legs. OK, she didn't think this through. Her gaze inadvertently landed on Trish' fucking matching panties. _Well, fuck._ She's fucked. She isn't consciously aware when she whispers a 'fuck, you're beautiful' into the air around them as she's taken in the blonde from head to toe. Jessica quickly takes the pants off all the way and haphazardly tucks Trish in.

When she turns to leave the bedroom, Trish suddenly grabs her and slurs a "don't leave."

Jessica is stunned into an awkward statue for the second time this night. She hears her own heartbeat in her ears as she stares at Trish' hand that latched itself rather firmly on her arm.

_How long has she been awake for? Was she conscious when I undressed her? What the fuck is going on?_

Seriously, this whole evening has been weird for Jessica. She briefly thinks that maybe she's still asleep but no, her dreams are never like this.

Trish' hand abruptly yanks on Jessica's arm, emphasizing her words. _Right._ She almost forgot. She mutters an "OK" and lies on top of the covers. She kicks off her boots but doesn't dare to take off any of her own clothes. She doesn't want to give Trish the wrong idea when they wake up the next day. Somehow Trish' hand finds Jessica's arm again. Jessica's heart speeds up and the skin Trish is touching is on fire, and when Trish' hand moves down to take her hand in hers, she's sure her heart stops beating altogether.

Jessica doesn't know how or when but somehow she fell asleep. When she opens her eyes, the blonde is not lying next to her. _So, it was a dream after all?_

Nope. She hears rattling in her kitchen followed by a "damn it." She smiles to herself, having recognized the voice instantly. She gets off the bed only to realize that she was under the covers and wasn't wearing any pants. She's positively sure that she was on top of the duvet and was definitely wearing pants before she fell asleep. Well, at least that's what she thinks. She's giving herself a headache thinking about what kind of stupid decisions she made in her sleep.

She quickly slides into her pants but notices that her underwear has a wet patch. _Oh, for fucks sake. Really?_ She hopes that Trish didn't see that. _Ugh._ She buttons her pants and joins the blonde in the kitchen.

Jessica lingers in the doorway, looking at the confused blonde. All her previous thoughts are long forgotten. She's clearly amused that Trish thinks that she has anything to eat in her house. The blonde mutters a "what the hell, Jess" to herself as she rummages through the un-stocked fridge. She sighs and turns around to see if her coffee cooled down enough to drink. At least Jessica had some of that.

Jessica zones out thinking about how it will be the cheapest, most disgusting instant coffee that Trish will ever taste if she does indeed decide to put her lips on that cup and allow her tongue to welcome the taste to excite her brain. _OK, what the fuck Jones. That was creepy, even for you._

She shakes off her thoughts and clears her throat. Trish turns to her and smiles shyly. She nudges another cup toward Jessica before saying good morning.

Jessica smiles back. "Morning, Trish. How are you feeling?" She takes the cup in her hands and takes a very small sip just to occupy herself and to not stare at what Trish is wearing.

Trish chose to wear something Jessica was sure she left lying on the floor somewhere in her bedroom. It's just a shirt and her panties slightly show when she moves her arms.

Jessica's small sip turned into a big gulp and it isn't until she swallows that she realizes it's a bit too hot. Fortunately, she doesn't burn her tongue on it. That would be a waste if things decided to take a turn. A turn they won't take because Jessica would never, ever, indulge herself like that and jeopardize their relationship. Nope.

It isn't until her eyes meet Trish', that she realizes she zoned out again. She thanks God that she hadn't been staring instead. "Hmm, what?" Jessica asks.

Trish is clearly amused. "I said I was OK and asked how you were doing, before adding that I hope you don't mind that I took your pants off when you were squirming in it in the early morning."

 _Right. OK. Trish did it. Thank fuck. Wait._ She isn't sure what to make of this. Was she wet before or after Trish took her pants off, and was it already light outside or too dark to see? _Trish said early morning. Oh, fuck. I'm fucked._ "Yeah, thanks." She bites her lip and immediately brings the cup to her mouth and drains it. She needs something stronger than this. And a lot of it.

Trish hums a song that Jessica doesn't recognize and disappears into Jessica's bedroom. When she emerges, the blonde is wearing the same clothes as yesterday again. "I'm going to get us some food. What do you want?" Trish asks nonchalantly.

Jessica feels all kinds of awkward and the blonde pretends everything is fine. _Is everything fine? Is all of this normal? I don't even know what normal is. I should go with whatever Trish thinks is normal._

Trish throws a clean(ish) sock at the private eye's face who jolts out of her thoughts. "What? What? Hey! Why did you do that for?"

"Because I'm hungry and you're not answering," Trish says while raising an eyebrow.

Jessica is more than confused. "What was the question?"

Trish merely snorts at her before telling her that she'll be right back. She smirks at Jessica for good measure.

Jessica is left standing with a sock in her hand, absolutely and utterly confused at everything that happened since last night.


	2. Lost in Thoughts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Request by @Cryptex to write a chapter from Trish' perspective. I'm sorry, I think I messed up.. It just feels really weird.

Trish called Jessica to ask her if she wanted to come over and have some dinner with her. She could hear in the tone of voice that the private eye didn't seem too eager to accept. Jessica kept pausing between her answers and seemed too preoccupied to even take a minute to talk exclusively to her. Trish heard shuffling and something that sounded like a pen tapping against a book; not that Trish thinks Jessica would ever read one. She was about to give up but put her pride on the line and tried one more time. She promised Jessica her favorite pizza – and of course, Jessica caved.

**

Jessica munches on a BBQ chicken pizza while Trish has her own, much smaller, vegetarian pizza with what Jessica would call 'all kinds of creepy green.' She definitely ordered it on purpose. It's amusing to see how disgusted Jessica gets by it. As if on cue, the private eye speaks up.

"You know that's not a pizza anymore, right?"

"Yes, it is. I need to stay healthy. I don't magically stay like... That." Trish gestures toward Jessica's body who in turn has to face away because a slight blush threatens to come and greet her face.

"I don't even think you have the capability to get fat. Maybe we should test my theory. Either way, you're hot Trish."

Trish nearly chokes on a piece of pizza. She isn't sure whether Jessica meant to say that. She sees Jessica swallow thickly and the woman doesn't make any eye contact. Trish bites her lip, not knowing how to reply. She keeps her gaze on Jessica.

None of them speak or move and Trish hopes Jessica will look up at her. She wants to know what the woman meant exactly. When she eventually does look up, Trish sees Jessica struggling. Her mouth slightly opens before closing again, and her eyes tell Trish that she's conflicted.

Jessica eventually settles on a 'what?' It comes out a bit hostile and Trish doesn’t want to ruin anything so she schools her expression into something more neutral before asking the private eye if she really meant it.

Jessica frowns for a moment and it looks like that was the last thing she thought Trish would say or ask. When she replies Trish hears it's without a hint of sarcasm. "Yes, I do."

Trish stares at her and a small smile grazes her cheekbones. _If only you meant it like I do._

Jessica clears her throat after a few moments of silence and adds: "So eat up, milady," in attempt to diffuse the tension.

Trish grins and takes another bite. Her elbows are leaning forward on the table and she has her head propped up on it. Her whole body is angled toward the private investigator. They talk about Jessica's cases and as Trish looks into Jessica's eyes, she notices that the woman is having a hard time forming coherent sentences. _She's cute when she gets like this._

The intricate mix of lighting shining into the kitchen from the window in the living room, makes Jessica's eyes look like a bright emerald. _Definitely not brown, then._ She takes a sip of her drink and takes a moment to look at those beautiful orbs. She isn't sure whether she imagined it or not but she thinks she saw Jessica's eyes dart over to her lips.

Trish feels the shift in the atmosphere; she knows Jessica is about to say something ridiculously sarcastic so she walks over to Jessica, wipes some sauce off the corner of her mouth with her finger and puts it into her own mouth. She knows that Jessica didn't see it, so she speaks up while heading to the couch to start up Netflix.

"Mmm, this sauce is not bad. Give me a slice next time?" She pauses but when Jessica doesn't answer, she continues: "Let's watch something, you have time right?" _Please say yes. Please say yes._

She starts flicking through the catalogue and Jessica is still stunned, frozen on the barstool.

"What?"

Trish snorts and looks over at Jessica who has her fingers splayed out on the corner of her mouth and chin. She raises an eyebrow but the private eye still isn't looking at her. _Well, that sight is pretty hot._

"Earth to Jessica Campbell Jones?"

"Hmm, what?" she says a little more focused now as she drops her hand, "I'm sorry, what did you say?"

Trish smirks in amusement. "I asked whether you have time to watch a movie, but maybe you should take a nap instead."

"No, no. A movie sounds great," Jessica replies a little too quickly. After a moment’s hesitation, she adds: "Did you just call me Campbell? You know I hate that name*."

"Sorry, it did get your attention, though, didn't it?" She smirks and taps the couch to signal the P.I. to join her. Trish can barely contain her excitement when Jessica sits a little closer than she normally does.

Trish does the cliché stretch move - but toned down - and moves her hand closer to Jessica but the other woman doesn't move to lay her own closer in reply. The blonde can tell that Jessica isn't really paying attention although her eyes are fixed on the screen in front of them. The truth is that Trish is also more interested in the woman next to her than that stupid movie she picked out. She decides to mess with the private investigator a little.

"So, who's that guy?" Trish knew it was the main character as she briefly scrolled through a summary of the movie before putting it on.

"Hmm, what?" Jessica is so absorbed by the action scene that she didn't hear what Trish said. She turns to face her briefly.

"I asked who that guy is," Trish points at a guy currently holding some kind of rifle. Now, Trish is not an expert in gun combat but she's pretty sure that if the guy really fired the gun, he'd lose his eye due to the recoil.

"Oh, him? Just some random bad guy. Not important. Why, you like him?" She casually snuck the last question in, pretty sure she talked her way out of that pretty well.

Nope.

Trish tries to keep from laughing at the private eye. For someone that's supposed to pay attention to everything, Jessica is pretty nonobservant - to both the movie and her.

"Are you sure that's not the protagonist?" Trish knowingly quips back.

Jessica recognizes that tone of voice. Trish caught on and it's no use to try and deny it so she relents. "OK, maybe I wasn't really paying attention."

Trish purposely didn't answer the second question. What is she supposed to say? 'No, but I kinda like you?' She has no idea how Jessica would reply to that even if she said it jokingly. Figuring that both of them aren't paying attention, she turns her body to face Jessica instead of the screen. She knows Jessica is aware but the woman doesn't mimic her moves – yet.

"So when are you taking me to a stakeout?" Trish asks in a calm tone.

Jessica looks at her like she's crazy. "Why would you want that?"

Trish shrugs. "Seems like fun." _All huddled up next to you as you act all serious. Sipping on some coffee. Whispering as you teach me how to take photos with that DSLR-camera of yours._

"Tonight? I mean it's almost the reason I couldn't make today. Hogarth needs me to serve papers to some guy."

"Yes, this is going to be awesome," Trish says with a smirk. She's planning to annoy the hell out of the private eye.

"Alright, let's go," Jessica says, already putting her jacket on.

Trish follows behind silently, putting on her boots and coat. Jessica waits for her in the hall and they walk through it together.

  
**

Jessica walks determinedly towards something. Trish doesn't know what, but she doesn't question it. They eventually settle on a staircase with a view of some kind of office. They sit in silence next to each other. The staircase isn't very wide but Trish can tell that Jessica is keeping as much distance as possible. She isn't sure it's because she doesn't want it to be potentially awkward or because she really just doesn't want to sit too close and give off the wrong vibe. The thought makes Trish a bit sad.

Trish thinks back to the day when she got drunk at Indigo and Jessica picked her up. She actually asked the bartender to call Jessica and he did, after getting a 100-dollar tip from her. She went out with someone she met a few times at events and such and he seemed like a nice guy. That was until he asked if she'd be in for a threeway with his girlfriend of two years. She almost threw her drink in his face but decided to be the bigger person and simply told him to get lost. He didn't want to leave but when she threatened to crush his balls, he couldn't get up quick enough. She only wanted to enjoy the night, not get laid and definitely not with two people she didn't really know. When he left her alone, she went to the bar and ordered a drink. She pondered on his invite only to have her mind drift off to the one person she could never have, would never be hers. Fuck. She tipped the bartender hundred bucks to call Jessica to have her to pick her up. Honestly, she knew it would be a long shot. Jessica hardly ever picks up. By some weird force of magic, Jessica was by her side in less than an hour. There was this annoying guy who wouldn't take no for an answer. She didn't want to dance with this guy. He told her that _her girlfriend_ would be here any minute. His face morphed from disgust to lust in seconds. Trish couldn't believe the luck she had today; why does every guy seemingly think about threeways. Like one isn't enough to satisfy you? She scoffed at him, ready to take another sip while waiting for him to take a hint. Before she could, he kissed her… It caught her by surprise and she was momentarily stunned. Jessica seemingly came out of thin air and saved her like some Knightress** in shining armor. Trish caught herself thinking about the words Jessica uttered more times a day then she can count. _'Fuck, you're beautiful._ '

Trish scoots closer to Jessica while asking about her target. "What time does he usually come out?"

It takes Jessica a split second too long to answer and Trish can hear some kind of waver in her voice when Jessica answers that it could be any moment now.

Trish isn't sure whether the waver is positive or not. She likes the way their legs are touching. She feels a warmth spread through her body and it helps to fight the cold. It isn't that cold, really, but her hands are freezing. Her hands are usually cold somehow, even if it's warm outside.

When the guy still hasn't left the building while dozens of others did, Trish feels the cold getting to her. She rubs her hands together and brings them up to her mouth to blow on it. She doesn't notice that Jessica is looking at her.

She's in the middle of shoving her hands into her way too small pockets when Jessica catches one. She guides their hands towards her own pocket and doesn't let go of Trish' hand. Trish looks at her curiously but the woman won't meet her stare.

"There he is," Jessica nudges with her chin.

She lets go of Trish' hand and grips her camera and immediately starts to snap some shots. She gives the camera to Trish. "I probably should've told you how this works beforehand, but I'm sure you can figure it out. Just press this button and well, try to keep the shots in focus. I'm going to give him the papers. Make sure you get a shot of me handing it to him, OK?"

Jessica doesn’t wait for Trish' answer and makes her way down the stairwell to catch the guy before he enters a cab. Trish sees Jessica walk determinately towards the guy and yell something in his direction.

_Damn her and the way she walks with so much fierceness. I want to run my hands all over those legs._

The private eye is already talking to the guy when she finally snaps out of her daydream. She tries to take a picture but she's not entirely sure whether she's actually taking a picture or not. She's still fidgeting when Jessica appears next to her again. Jessica's voice startles her and she almost drops the camera.

"Trish, are y-"

"I'm so sorry, Jess. This thing. I didn't. You. I. Shit. I don't think I got a picture. I have no idea how this thing works and that button you told me to press didn't do anything."

Little does Trish know that it did do something. It recorded video. Not only moving images but also sound. Her voice during the recording.

Jessica smirks at her. "Don't worry, I took a selfie with the guy and the papers I served him."

Trish isn't sure whether to be relieved that Jessica had proof of delivery or mad that she assumed she wouldn't be able to do it (it doesn't matter that the assumption was correct. If anything, it made it worse.)

"Hello? Trish?!" Trish has no idea how long Jessica has been calling her name for - or why. She looks up at her with a questioning look.

"Nevermind, let's get you home. The cold is getting to you." Jessica takes the camera back. She sees Trish shiver slightly and takes off her own scarf and hands it to Trish.

Trish is confused at the gesture. She wasn't cold anymore. Not really. When she's was about to voice that thought, Jessica already put the accessory around her neck. _Oh, fuck, this smells like her. Don't be too obvious in smelling it, Walker._ Trish shivers again but for very different reasons now. Jessica furrows her eyebrows at her but Trish ignores her gaze and walks ahead of her. _This woman is going to drive me insane._

When they're just a block away from Trish' apartment, someone seemingly deliberately bumps into Trish. Jessica wants to slap this person into tomorrow. She sees Trish tense up more for it to be just accidental. Although her hands are in her pocket, she can see the outline. They go from open palmed to fists in a second. She recognizes the guy now. The broken nose gave it away.

"Hey. Your girlfriend can still join, you know." He gestures to Jessica. The tone of this guy's voice is way too smug. Trish internally groans and hopes that Jessica isn't going to question the 'girlfriend' thing. It does strike her as odd that he isn't afraid or angry at Jessica, considering she gave him a new face.

"No. We're good," Trish answers and drags Jessica along by her hand and ends the conversation. She can feel the private investigator thinking but doesn't know what to say. She had called Jess her girlfriend just to get this guy to take a hike, sure, but it also felt so good to call her that. It wasn't just the alcohol speaking either.

She glances up at Jessica whose gaze is set on the road before them. She seems more stoic than usual to Trish. The woman isn't grasping her hand back, no, Trish realizes that this is one-sided. At that realization, she drops Jessica's hand. Jessica doesn't react at all.

They reach Trish' place and the whole block over was spent in total silence. It was awkward to Trish but she didn't know how to diffuse the situation. Jessica also seemed to be in her own world and dragging her out of it didn't seem like a good idea.

"I have to run by Hogarth for my check." Jessica nods towards Trish and turns to leave. Trish can't let the evening end on this note so she grabs Jessica's arm.

"See you soon?" Her voice betrays her. There's a pleading tone in her voice and she knows that Jessica heard it too.

It takes Jessica too long to reply and Trish drops her hand from the other woman's arm.

The corner of Jessica's mouth twitches upward for a split second. "Of course," she answers honestly and places a quick peck on Trish' forehead.

It is so sudden, so uncharacteristic, that it takes Trish a long time to process it. The private investigator is already out of sight when a huge smile appears Trish' face. _Fuck.._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * For the purpose of this fic (and any other fic that I write including AKA Misdirected where I've already used the name) Campbell is her second name and not her original last name. So this part is canon divergent (if we go by the comics I mean. In the TV show Campbell isn't even mentioned since she is adopted by Mrs. Walker so technically in the TV series Jessica's last name doesn't even make any sense).
> 
> ** Points for the shout-out to one of Jessica's vigilante nicknames? No? OK.


	3. Strictly Hetero Part I

Jessica spots the camera on her desk and remembers that her memory card is almost full. She sits down in her chair and hooks her camera up to her laptop. When it doesn't turn on, she gets frustrated. That is until she remembers that she forgot to turn it off last night when she tried to get her mind off of things and Googled some bad guys currently having their residence in her neighborhood.

She plugs her laptop into the charger and waits until the photos load. As she scrolls through them and deletes the ones she no longer needs, she comes across a video. This is strange as she never records anything. She wasn't even aware this thing _could_ record anything. Clicking once, she sees that the video is 3.16 minutes and taken - "oh, last Monday?!" she says out loud when she realizes that it's Trish that took the video.

Grabbing her licorice out of one of the drawers, she double clicks on the file and plays the video.

At first, she only hears a lot of shuffling and the video is completely out of focus. But then it turns to someone walking down the street; it's that she knows it's her because even if she squints she cannot make out who it is. She hears Trish breathe something out twice but it's way too soft to decipher it.

Finishing her candy, she drags the video into a program that splits the video from the audio. She then opens the audio into a digital audio workstation and messes with the EQ in order to amplify the sound in the range in which humans speak. She uses a high pass filter to filter out the low humming of cars and other outside noises. She never thought this would come in handy again when she half-heartedly paid attention when an asset of hers did something similar for her months ago.

The sound still isn't very good, but it's clear enough to make out what Trish is saying now.

"Fuck, I want to run my hands all over those legs."

Followed by silence and then:

"Why are you so damn hot?!"

_Holy fuck._

It's safe to say that Jessica is very confused right now. Last night all she could think of was how Trish did nothing to refute the fact that she wasn't her girlfriend when that guy called her that. Of course, she could've thought that he wasn't worth arguing about it.. But the way Trish held her hand after that and the way she sounded so insecure yet sincere when she asked if they would see each other again soon, made Jessica wonder that maybe, just maybe her feelings aren't that unrequited.

Just as she's contemplating on what to say to Trish when she calls her, her phone rings. She frowns at the device because it's Trish that's calling her. _Voodoo. Clearly._

Before she even fully brought the phone to her ear, she hears Trish' distressed voice.

"I think someone is following me. Jess, accept my video call for a sec. I know you hate it, but I'd like you to see my murderer, just in case."

"Ah, what? Trish, you're joking, right?" She knows Trish isn't joking but doesn't want to believe it either.

Trish ends the call midway Jessica's sentence. A Skype call comes in and Jessica immediately accepts it. It takes a few seconds before she sees Trish, but when she does, she sees that someone seems to be actually following her.

"Trish, tell me exactly where you are." She tries to keep her voice level but her heart beats uncontrollably. She puts Trish on speakerphone.

"I'm actually walking towards you. Six blocks away. 7th Avenue going into 21th Street."

As Trish speaks, Jessica quickly puts on her jacket and jumps down her window. Elevators and doors be damned right now.

On her phone, she can see that Trish is still walking but she isn't speaking anymore. The person that is following her is yelling at her now. They're singsonging her name, which means they know exactly who it is that they're following. The weird thing is that this guy isn't making any headway. It's like he is intentionally keeping his distance and doesn't want to ambush her.

This isn't working. It's a Friday night and the streets are too crowded to run through, so she jumps up a roof and starts to run building to building until she's approximately where Trish should be according to the limited information she gets from the sight from Trish' phone.

Jessica looks down and can see both Trish and the guy that's following her. There is something strange going on. When she searches the area in front of them, she sees it. He's cornering her. Trish is going exactly where he wants her to go and that's why he's not making any move on her.

From Jessica's acquired height, she can see half a dozen guys waiting just a block away. If Trish keeps going the direction she's currently in it's going to be hard, even for Jessica, to get out of the situation unscathed.

Although, she's always in for a fight, she'd like Trish to be safe. Her best course of action would be to send Trish into another direction and to confront the lone guy and get him to back off.

"Trish, take the next right."

"But, that's -"

"Trust me, Trish."

And Trish does, without thinking. She finds herself in a cul-de-sac.

"That wasn't a smart move to make, Trish. I thought you were smarter than this," the guy yells after her as he walks into the same alleyway. "What are you going to do now?" He puts his hands together in excitement. "I know what I'm gonna do."

Jessica hears him slightly delayed on her phone as she's now directly above the pair. She gets herself ready to jump on him when Trish speaks up.

"Oh, _I'm_ not the one who's going to be doing something and neither are you." Trish grins up at him, causing him to take an uncertain small step back at her sudden confidence.

Just as he's about to ask her what she's talking about, Jessica jumps down from the building. Trish' mockery gives her the idea it would be more fun to punch him, giving him somewhat of a fair fight, instead of jumping on him out of nowhere.

"I am," Jessica says when her boots meet the ground.

The guy whips his head around to face Jessica and is immediately met by her fist in his face. He grunts out in pain as the blood immediately seeps out from his nose. She hits him in the abdomen next, causing him to fall down to his knees. Jessica then gestures to Trish as to say 'what do we do with him?'

Trish shakes her head in dismissal and gestures for Jessica to come closer to her.

"Don't bother me again, or you'll regret it," Trish says to the guy who's now toppled over in pain.

She gives Jessica a hug and whispers a 'thank you' into her shoulder.

All Jessica can think about is how good Trish smells and how she wants to drown into the embrace. But she swallows up her feelings and backs away a little instead.

"Give me a boost up?" Trish asks.

"Wha? What?" Jessica stutters as they haven't done anything like this since their college days. High school would be more accurate, if not for that day Trish got wasted due to a spiked drink and Jessica had to go and get her. Trish couldn't even walk so Jessica carried her home. She quickly found it it's easier to jump from roof to roof than to go in a mediocre tempo just to keep up appearances.

Jessica decides right after the guy tries to get up again. She grabs Trish' waist from behind and charges both of them into the air. It isn't until she feels Trish flex her abs under her grip that her mind goes in ten different directions, none appropriate for this instant. She let's go too quickly and Trish would've toppled over if not for the fact that Jessica's reflexes kicked in.

Looking into each other's eyes, the world around them disappears. Jessica always thought it was cliché bullshit and would never admit it out loud, but oh how real it is. The weird part, however, is that she doesn't know what to do with her hands. _What do people normally do with their hands? Why can't they just retract into your body when they're not in use?_

_Fuck.._

Trish watches Jessica go from something she would describe as 'awestruck' to confused as Jessica furrows her brows deeper and deeper in thought.

"What?" Trish asks confused seeing Jessica all fidgety.

"What? Nothing?!" _did I say that out loud?_ "Just be careful, Trish." Jessica blurts out in a failed attempt to keep her cool.

Trish bursts out into laughter, but Jessica manages to silence her almost immediately with a gloved hand to her mouth.

_I should not have done that. I should not have done that._

Jessica points to the guy below them, who is searching all over for them, extremely confused over their sudden disappearance. She feels Trish' warm breaths through the fabric of her glove. It leaves a tingling sensation and warms up more than just her hand.

She feels Trish looking at her instead of the guy and she makes the mistake of looking back at Trish. Once they lock eyes, Jessica is breathless. Her ears only pick up the sound of her own out of control heart and all she can think about is what this woman in front of her said about her in that video.

She vaguely sees Trish step closer to her.

Trish missteps over the loosely scattered pebbles and falls forward. Jessica quickly snaps out of her daydream and catches her just in time. Unfortunately, the weight Trish put on her foot caused it to sprain. She tries to walk on it but her foot hurts too much.

Jessica gestures with her arms for Trish to come to her so that Jessica can carry her. Trish shakes her head and leans on her to walk. When they reach the edge, Trish realizes that this isn't going to work. There's no way she can climb down herself and she can't jump to the next building either.

She sighs, but not because she doesn't want Jessica to hold her but because she imagined it under different circumstances.

When Jessica hears that sound, she thinks she somehow overstepped boundaries, did something wrong or maybe interpreted Trish' words on that video the wrong way. _She doesn't want to be in near proximity to me..._

"C-can you carry me home?" Trish asks Jessica. It's so soft that Jessica wouldn't hear it if they weren't still standing so close to each other.

Jessica looks up to Trish looking all kinds of vulnerable and it breaks Jessica's heart. "Of course, Trish."

Trish demands to get to her penthouse through conventional means instead of her hopping into the balcony and breaking her locks, and of course, Jessica does as told. But Jessica wouldn't be Jessica if she did it without whining and pouting.

When they reach her floor and the elevator dings, they see someone standing by Trish' door. Jessica furrows her eyebrows because, why would there be a cop standing at her door? Unless something happened with Dorothy or something went down at the station. Or did Trish call the cops before she called her?

Jessica walks forward in quick strides, leaving Trish to hobble along with her sprained ankle.

Before Jessica can ask what's going on, Trish speaks up.

"Simpson," she says like a question.

It's clear to Jessica that 1. Trish didn't expect him and 2. They know each other more than casually.

She can tell by how Trish' demeanor changes. Her stance is more confident yet her eyes are softer while she looks at him. She isn't sure whether it's pity or whether she just missed him. It's difficult for Jessica to analyze the situation when all she wants to do is get rid of him and make sure that Trish is alright.

The cop, not a detective Jessica notes, walks up to the pair. He gives Jessica a quick nod in acknowledgment and goes to ask Trish whether she's alright.

If you ask Jessica, it's more like he's babying her. Kneeling in front of her to look at her ankle, touching it gently while looking up into her eyes. Yes. Jessica knows in that moment that she doesn't like him in the slightest. She clears her throat to hopefully end this annoying situation.

"Right," Tries snaps out of the moment, "Jess, this is Simpson, Simpson this is Jessica."

He gives Jessica a smile and extends his hand. Jessica just stares him down until Trish not so gently nudges her in the abdomen.

"OK," Jessica says, quickly retracting her hand again.

The silence that follows is awkward.

Trish tells Simpson that they have things to do and he understands that he's intruding on something and takes it as his cue to leave. He gives Trish a quick kiss on her mouth.

Jessica almost vomits on the spot and wants to kill him simultaneously. She interjects 'whatever this is' with a notion of her own.

"You can stay. I gotta go anyway," she says quickly. She spits Simpsons name as a goodbye and doesn't spare Trish another glance.

Trish sees her leave without another word and is utterly confused. This isn't how this was supposed to go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just realized I have a thing for either of them just leaving without a word -_-", sorry but I don't think I can help it... Of course, the next chapter will continue where they left off.


	4. Strictly Hetero Part II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cue the drama and the angst.

Trish sees her leave and is utterly confused. This isn't how it was supposed to go.

She met Simpson last week and he proved to be a good distraction... Nothing more, nothing less. She doesn't even know how he got her address. Just because he's a cop doesn't mean he has the right to just dig into her files to get her personal information. This clearly has some stalkerish vibes. Being the polite lady that she is, she didn't have the heart to tell him off in front of Jessica but now that he basically made her leave, it's a totally different story.

"What are you doing here?"

Simpson frowns as he genuinely thought that Trish would be happy to see him. "Don't you want to see me?"

Trish raises an eyebrow, completely unimpressed. She's not some damsel in distress that needs to be looked after. Well, not unless Jessica is the one that does but she isn't about to say that to him. Nor her. Even thinking about it proves to be too much and she sighs loudly at her internal dialogue.

"Simpson, how did you get my address?" Trish calmly asks. She secretly hopes that Jessica stuck around in case this goes south but knows she didn't.

"You gave it to me," he says confidently. He runs his thumb over the tip of his fingers a few times.

"Are you really going to stand there and lie? Do I need to call the co-," Trish stops midsentence because, well, the cops are technically already here, right? She pinches her nose with her thumb and forefinger. What did she get herself into?

"Look, Simpson, I don't know what the deal is.. But I think you should leave."

He looks at her like a wounded deer and she momentarily feels sorry for him. "We aren't in a relationship, Simpson. Just to be clear, alright?"

He nods his head at Trish but refuses to meet her gaze. He gives her the flowers he bought her and which Trish completely missed until he presented it to her. "Thank you, but -"

"I know, no strings attached, don't worry. I won't come over here unannounced again. Plus something tells me I interrupted something. I know when I'm unwanted. Bye, Trish."

And just like that, they go from three people to only one person standing in the hallway. As she opens her front door, she wonders what he meant with that something he seemingly interrupted?

What did he interrupt?

**

Jessica is pissed off. She's positively sure that Trish is just leading her on or playing with her.

"Trish is only using me for my strength," Jessica whispers to herself, "Bodyguard, nothing more. Get it together, Jones."

She decides to go to a bar and get shitfaced drunk. She doesn't care about anything anymore, anyway. A bar she doesn't know would be the way to go as most of her 'usual places' know to call Trish whenever she acted on the impulse that the bar - or another patron - needed a redesign.

After wandering for a while, she sees a bar on the corner of some street that she never heard the name of before. It will have to do.

She opens the door and is pleasantly surprised that no bell rings and no one turns to look at who just came in.

The bar, however, is almost completely vacant. Not that she cares because all she wants is a few drinks and to be left alone.

"You know what I want," she absentmindedly tells the bartender, completely forgetting he would have no clue what she could possibly want.

Jessica puts her head on the surprisingly clean countertop and starts playing with the beermat. She's unaware that the bartender is studying her carefully.

He notices the redness in her eyes, probably from unshed tears and takes in her appearance. Biker boots, leather jacket, fingerless gloves, clearly unwashed jeans, yet hair that isn't completely terrible and a face that's rather cute in his opinion.

The bartender puts down a bottle of beer and goes to put something away under the bar. When he resurfaces, the beer bottle is empty.

"Hmh," he thoughtfully remarks, "another one?"

"Ugh, something stronger, dude."

He scoffs. "Dude, huh? Well, I reckon I've been called worse. Luke's the name. What's your poison?"

"People that try to make small talk. Whiskey. Neat." She says that last part staring him dead in the eyes. Her eyes trail downward but she can't see more than his torso. He seems to be very muscular, but that shirt is definitely not working for him, she thinks. _Who the hell wears a yellow shirt in this kind of gloomy weather?!_

"Nice shirt," she says as thanks for the Macallan he put down for her. She knows that staying here for too long is going to cost her a fortune now that he started with the good stuff.

"Thanks." He genuinely smiles up at her and she cannot help but roll her eyes.

"I was being sarcastic," she drawls.

He looks hurt for a split second before scoffing lightly and smirking back. "At least, I'm not wearing questionable pants."

"Touché," Jessica says while mockingly saluting him with her glass before chugging it down in one swift motion.

"Refill?"

"Got anything cheaper?"

He's about to say something but decides against it when he catches her with a raised eyebrow.

He starts to pull out some Teacher's but leaves it on the counter as some patrons start to argue loudly with each other. Luke rushes over to the pair but is too late as one already slammed the others' head down onto the table. A full on fight starts between the two while a group of four cheer them on.

Luke grabs both of them with each hand and pretends to have the strength to lift them both off the ground. "I said, no fighting in my bar. What part of that don't you understand?"

A sigh of awe sounds in the bar and Luke puts less force into the hold he has over the men. He lets them go before telling them all to leave. It was more like an order and they all got the message loud and clear.

When the last man wants to leave as well and almost reaches the threshold, Luke comes up and blocks the way with his figure.

"R-right," the man stammers. He pats down his pockets, fishes out a 20 dollar bill and tries to side step him.

"Really?" Luke says before releasing a deep breath.

"The guy fishes out another three 20 dollar bills and questioningly looks up at Luke.

Luke offers him one back, but the guy frantically shakes his head at him. Luke politely thanks him and lets him go by sidestepping and freeing the passage to the door.

It's only when he turns back that he sees that only one patron is left now. The raven-haired woman with an empty whiskey glass in front of her. Luke goes and puts the table back in its spot and picks up the chairs from the floor.

"That was interesting," Jessica says out loud.

Luke shakes his head. "I hate customers like that. Don't destroy what isn't yours and be kind to one another. Is that so hard?"

"Yes," is the one syllable answer that Luke gets.

He shakes his head and walks back behind the bar. After putting the cash into the registry, he refills Jessica's glass and tells her it's on the house, or better said, the men that just left.

**

How they ended up in his apartment right above the bar, Jessica doesn't know. Well, she does, but she positively doesn't care.

She does, however, notice that he seems to be much rougher than she's used to, but damn, that makes everything all the more interesting.

It turns out to be a good night.

In true Jessica fashion, she leaves long before he wakes up. She doesn't do awkward morning situations.

**

It's when she doesn't wake up from either her last resort alarm clock or some random person calling, she knows that she's fucked.

Well, she already was last night - but this is different.

Jessica left her phone at Luke's place. It must've fallen out of her pocket when she discarded her pants in favor of a more natural look.

It was never her intention to go back. She doesn't do casual hookups or God forbid, something more than that. It's just a one night stand. No drama, no problem.

Grumbling to herself about how stupid she is, she gets out of bed, tries to find another pair of pants and a somewhat fresh shirt. Just as she's about to exit her apartment she runs into... Luke of all people.

Luke. At _her_ doorstep.

It catches her off guard until she sees her phone in his hand along with some kind of paper bag in his other hand.

"Hey," he says with a smirk plastered on his face. "Forget something?"

"Yea," Jessica replies a little bit weary, because how does he know where she lives?

He seems to follow her train of thoughts and clears his throat. He gives her back her phone and wipes the sweat from his hands on his shirt. "I looked through your contacts to see if I could locate you. There was only one number saved but I decided against calling it. Went through the settings and found your name alongside it. I didn't look at anything else, I promise. "However," he chuckles, "You might wanna consider putting a lock on it."

As an afterthought, he adds that she received a text message as well and that he didn't open it. The notification at the upper left corner confirms the fact that she indeed has a new message, but she decides against opening it right away.

"Thank you for bringing it back," Jessica says and hopes that Luke will leave or something. This is kind of awkward.

After a tense few seconds of neither of them speaking, he cuts through the silence.

"Do you want me to go? I got us breakfast if, if you want?"

Well, Jessica has never been the person to turn down free food so he lets him into her apartment.

**

"So, you found my name in my phone.. But how did you find my address?" Jessica asks with her mouth stuffed with a BLT-sandwich.

"Oh! Sorry. I Googled your name and well, you're in the yellow pages."

"Right." _Seems legit enough._

**

How they ended up in Jessica's bedroom, she doesn't know. Well, she does. But doesn't care. Luke is currently kissing her neck and has his hands kneading her breasts. And while she likes it, her mind is preoccupied with other things.

She sneaks a peek at the message at her phone and all sorts of emotion rush back. _Of fucking course, it's Trish who texted me._

She sighs loudly and Luke immediately thinks that he screwed something up. "-well, we don't have to of course, I mean, it was just an idea."

_Huh, what? How were you even talking with your mouth all over me?_

"Sorry, what were you saying?"

"Dinner. I asked if you wanted to have dinner with me?"

Confusion flickers through her mind. _No. What?_ "Something important came up, Luke. I need to go." She wiggles her phone for emphasis.

"Right. OK."

He gets up slightly frustrated and straightens out his shirt. He takes one last look at a topless Jessica (who is currently wondering when that happened) and full on smirks. Sudden confidence back in his demeanor.

"So, I guess that's a no for dinner? Let me know when you change your mind."

He winks at her and takes his leave.

**

Trish is about to knock on Jessica's door when a guy walks out. Smugness radiating off of him. Trish observes that he's tall, dark and handsome and especially very fit. Her stomach flips and she thinks she's going to throw up on the spot. She doesn't understand why but doesn't analyze it either.

Luke nods his head toward Trish in acknowledgment but doesn't say a word as he walks off toward the elevator.

"Who was that?!" Trish asks bewildered while she ventures into Jessica's apartment after the guy left the door unlocked.

It takes a second for Jessica to register the voice and the question. "Ehm, Luke. The uh, my uh. Some guy."

"Right..."

It says more than enough. Trish has no control over her feelings at the moment. She feels jealousy, anger, hatred, betrayal.

She feels sad.

She has no idea what she came here for anymore and just wants to wallow in self-pity in some corner by herself.

"I uh, gotta go," Trish says while looking intently at her phone. Not that it matters, because Jessica is still in her bedroom while Trish is standing in the office. "Studio emergency."

Jessica doesn't buy it but isn't in any position to question her right now, so she doesn't.

"OK, see you later?"

Trish doesn't answer as she slams the door closed with a little more force than necessary.

**

She has no idea how she ended up with a bucket of B&J's in her bed. Her curtains are closed and she's watching Titanic on her laptop. If Jessica was here, she'd say that - no.

No more Jessica.

Trish knows she needs to stop this. Jessica doesn't like her. She knew that already and today only reconfirmed that. Thank God, tomorrow is Saturday and she doesn't have to be at the studio. It's perfectly normal for someone to be sad about something like this for two days, right?

Two episodes in of Sex and the City and Trish has the best idea ever. Pick someone up, or better said let someone pick her up. It's the best idea ever, right? So she puts extra effort into putting on her makeup and a nice dress. She calls her driver to meet her outside in an hour with club Indigo as her destination.

As she opens her front door, she's sure some force of nature is messing with her right now. It must be.

Because what are the odds that Jessica is standing outside her door?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no idea where they whole Jessica/Luke thing comes from. I'm so sorry. Also, Luke is all headcanon since I haven't watched the Netflix Luke Cage series yet! Simpson is headcanon too, because I really just hate his character in the series. Doesn't he just piss you off?!
> 
> PS. I'm still Trishica all the way.
> 
> PPS. Don't be too mad at the lack of Jessica/Trish interaction in this chapter. I'll make up for it in the next one, I promise.


	5. There's Just No Way

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Continued from where the previous chapter ended.

Also, Jessica at her door? Door? Jessica? Trish is so lost in thoughts after seeing Jessica there that she doesn't notice the stunned look on the raven-haired woman.

Because _Trish looks positively hot._

Trish looks hot and it's for someone other than Jessica.

The realization catches up with Jessica and makes her want to hit someone, something, anything. But mostly herself. How can she fall in love with Trish? Well, she knows how but why is it so hard to fall out of love with her?

That she also knows.

Because Trish is perfectly imperfect in every single way. Jessica loves all of her. Everything, down to her fierce need for independence while all that Jessica wants is to wrap Trish up in blankets to shield her from the cold hard world. Of course, she would never say it like that out loud or anything.

"Wow, you look beautiful Trish. I mean not that you normally don't, or anything. It's just that.. Wow. I mean, do you need to attend something work-related?

Jessica really hopes it's work-related.

"No," is the one-word sentence Jessica gets. Trish almost seems cold and it hurts Jessica more than she cares to admit.

"Alright, well. Yeah. So, ehmm.."

It's hard for Trish to see her friend squirm like this, but this is nothing compared to what she felt. Still feels. So, she says nothing.

The silence stretches out as Trish continues to stare blankly at Jessica.

".. Yeah. I won't keep you." Jessica begins to turn on her heels when Trish speaks up again.

"Why are you here?" Her voice is still void of all emotion and if it were anyone else, Jessica would've gotten all defensive - but with Trish, she can't. She doesn't want to either. She just wants to make it right.

"To apologize," Jessica says with such sincerity that it catches Trish off guard.

"For what?" Trish is slightly confused because technically, in all honesty, Jessica has nothing to apologize for.

".. I.. I.. For whatever it is that made you slip that Pats- 'Trish the radio host' mask on around me." She had almost said something else. It would've been a low blow because as far as they both can remember, when Trish finally let her guard down, she never put it back up around Jessica.

"It's nothing. I'm sorry," Trish says. From no emotion to an overload of emotions poured into just a few words.

"I.. What? No." Jessica is confused. "Why are you sorry? I mean, I obviously did something. How can you say it's nothing?" She starts to fiddle with her gloves to keep herself occupied. There's rage building inside of her and she doesn't know why.

"Look, can I come in for a sec? I won't be long and you won't be late to whatever it is you're going. You're probably still going to arrive early."

And it was true. Trish was always over-punctual if she needed to be somewhere if it was personal, and not work related.

"OK," Trish barely breathes out and steps aside so that Jessica can come in. She keeps standing by the door though and both are standing in Trish' hallway.

"Talk to me, Trish."

"What do you want me to say, Jessica?"

This is just another thing to add to the list of things Trish is awkward about. She rarely uses Jessica's full name like that. It's always 'Jess' unless she's mad or trying to make a point.

"That. Why do you call me that?"

"Isn't that your name?" Trish quips back with an edge in her voice that hits Jessica hard.

Jessica has had enough of this non-conversation they're having. She flings her hand up in the air as a sign of defeat and goes for the doorknob.

That's when Trish stops her with a gentle hand on her arm. "Wait."

Jessica stands still. Not moving an inch but not saying anything either. She will wait if that is what Trish wants, but she better start talking soon.

"I'm jealous, OK," Trish whispers. Her head is cast downward and her stance is slumped. She removes her hand from Jessica's arm as a silent acceptance that if Jessica wants to leave, she can.

"Jealous? Of what?" She tries to get a read on Trish, but she can't see her face.

"You and.. Luke?" Trish gulps hard. This wasn't easy for her to say.

"Me and who?" Jessica starts saying when in the middle of her sentence she remembers who Luke is.

"Why are you jealous of him?" Jessica can't understand how Trish can be jealous of some bartender she saw twice in her life. Did Trish know something she doesn't?

"Do you really need me to spell it out, Jess?"

_Well, yeah. I have no idea what's going on here._

"Yeah, because I don't understand, Trish."

Trish walks over to the living room and sits down on her couch. Her hand elbows are on her knees and her hands are in her hair, shielding her face from Jessica as she looks down at her own feet.

When Jessica follows her into the living room, she sees a defeated woman. She walks over and sits on the coffee table opposite of Trish.

She doesn't really know what to do to console Trish, but puts her hands on Trish' biceps and squeezes a little in what she hopes is a comforting gesture.

"Talk to me, Trish. Please."

It hurts her to see Trish like this. The normally confident woman that always gets what she wants because of the kind woman that she is and not because of her celebrity presence - well, most of the time anyway.

"I like you."

Her voice is so small and barely more than a whisper but Jessica heard it alright.

"Well, I love you, but what is this about?"

And that's when the both of them hold their breath. Trish had said it numerous of times but Jessica never said it back. She always showed it to Trish in other ways. In her own way. By making sure that Trish was OK, by trying to make her proud and trying to be an overall not-so-shitty friend.

"That's just it. Jess, just let it go."

"No, I won't let it go." Jessica moves to kneel in front of Trish, trying to catch her eyes. Trish quickly averts them, but not before Jessica sees that she's silently crying.

Jessica's heart breaks into a million pieces. Did she do this? Did she make Trish cry? Did she hurt her? The one good thing in her life? The only thing that matters?

Jessica removes her right hand from Trish' arm and lifts Trish' chin up to make her look into her eyes. It's exceptionally uncharacteristically gentle and Trish has no choice but to go with the motion.

"You said I was hot. How did you mean that?" Jessica whispers, almost losing her own confidence.

Trish gasps and immediately drops her head again. She's pretty sure her heart is beating out of her chest. How did Jessica know that? She decides to take a leap of faith as it couldn't get any worse, anyway.

"The same way when you said that I'm beautiful," she whispers back.

Jessica didn't hear that correctly. She couldn't have. Does Trish feel the same? It's impossible, right? It's nearly impossible to love Jessica, she thinks. So how can someone as amazing as Trish love her like that?

There's just no way.

"Trish..." It's barely more than her breathing out.

She gets up and Trish thinks she's gonna bolt. It wouldn't be a surprise as Jessica always does it when things get tough. But to Trish' surprise, she gets dragged up as well.

"Say it."

It's a soft demanding tone that only asks to be heard. Her eyes are not leaving Trish' for even a second. Her hand finds its way to Trish' chin to keep her from looking away.

Trish wouldn't even be able to look away. She's too mesmerized by the green but also confused by seeing the unshed tears in them.

"More than friends," Trish says brokenly afraid for the rejection that she knows is about to come.

Unable to control herself, Jessica surges forward too forcefully, until her lips touch the soft, beautiful lips she could only ever admire from a distance.

She drowns in the press of their lips together and only relaxes when she feels Trish pushing back against her lips. She gasps in surprise because having someone say it is one thing, but physically feeling what they're saying is on a whole other level.

Trish takes it as an invite and deepens the kiss. Jessica can taste her bitter tears, something sweet and something she cannot place but is irrefutably Trish. She's already addicted and thinks that this is what Heaven must be like.

Their tongues meet and tell each other stories that their voices cannot.

Their hands find their place on each other's body and finally know the meaning of home.

Their hearts beat in sync and their minds are void of all thought.

And when they both reluctantly end the kiss and look into each other's eyes, they know.

**Never say there's no way because love will always find one. You just have to take a leap of faith.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for sticking with me on this story. I appreciate all the kudos, bookmarks and especially comments. If you read all of this in one go (because you found it weeks/months later or something), please leave me a comment anyway. Again, thanks for reading & until next time!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Don't forget to leave me some kudos and comments. Constructive criticism is always appreciated. Requests might be fun as well, though I'm not sure if I can deliver.


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